Lazarus
by CDSoundtrack
Summary: Commander Shepard's revival wasn't exactly seamless. He lost his immune system and all his memories. Despite this, he needs to unite the galaxy and stop the Reapers. Paragon Male Shepard
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, here we go. My first non-crossover story. Hope you all enjoy!**

Chapter I: The Blank Faceplate

_"__Run!" A familiar voice shouted over the roar of a sand leviathan erupting from the unstable terrain. A green liquid erupted from the maw of the terrifying creature, disintegrating the poor soldier in light pink and white armor that had been in its line of sight._

_ "__Do you seriously think we can run!? This was a goddamned trap!"He felt himself shouting as he gestured to a distress beacon, a golden symbol on the side glowing hot in the desert sun._

_ "__Which is why you need to run! You're the Lion of Elysium, the Alliance needs you! Warn them!" With that, another of the beasts burst from the sand, wrapping its gaping mouth around the man he had been speaking to, crushing the heavy dark red armor he wore as if it were wet tissue paper._

_ "__Sergeant!" Blue energy began pouring off of him, coursing over his medium black armor before focusing into his hands and being sent towards the creature in a focused ball, which ripped a hole in the exoskeleton._

_Pulling a shotgun from the small of his back, the Lion clicked a setting on the worn weapon, which sent a red fireball of metal slugs at the creature, causing an explosion that actually sent the giant wormlike creature crashing into one of its brethren._

_So this continued as the Sole Survivor evaded the creatures, firing his blue energy and swapping between his shotgun and the other weapons he carted around on his back: sniper rifle, assault rifle, heavy pistol, submachine gun, and the orange glowing glove on his hand that sent out a sphere of blue data, which distracted the beasts as his shields recharged and his weapon vented the built up heat from rapid firing._

_But despite his efforts, the number of corpses littering the circular arena of sand began piling up, people he had fought alongside in many a battle, put to death by a trap and a nest of leviathans._

_Said creatures retreated soon, figuring everything worth doing had already been done. The corpses, some melted by acid, others chomped in half by the sheer strength of the beast erupting from the sand, began rising, turning to him._

_ "__Why didn't you warn us?" One almost wailed, the left side of its face melted beyond recognition. It lurched towards him, reaching out with a hand that was clawed._

_ "__I'm sorry! You didn't deserve this!" He wailed, falling to his knees, dropping the shotgun he wielded to the sandy ground._

"It's time to wake up Commander." _A slightly familiar and feminine voice echoed from nowhere, shaking the desert with its resonance. _"We don't have time, we have to get you moving!" _The desert began to vanish, and in its place was a massive black squid-shaped monstrosity. It seemed to stare at him for a moment before a red beam erupted from it and all went dark._

He leaped up from the lying position he had been in, scanning the room with a trained eye. He was in some form of medbay, a good decision considering the headache that pierced his skull behind his eyes.

"Open the locker in the corner, there's a pistol and armor." The same voice demanded from the PA system. He racked his brain to see if he could recognize the person whose voice that was, but what he found terrified him: nothing but the images he had seen before, not even his own name. Clenching his fists, he decided he needed answers. To get them, he would have to find people.

Opening the locker, he met with a comforting sight. The armor was in small parts, gleaming silver, and the chestplate held a blood dragon on the right breast. On the left was a black white and red N7, which for some reason put his mind at ease. The pistol was magnetically stuck to the hip of the suit, and it looked to be a simple standard issue sidearm. He experimentally began putting the suit on, gasping in surprise as the pieces extended out, interlocking to make an unbroken suit of protection. He tapped the firearm, which extended into its full form as it detached from the suit. He looked at it for a moment before shouting to the voice.

"This pistol doesn't have any ammo!" The PA crackled to life again, and he could almost _feel_ the lady rolling her eyes.

"You'll be fine. You have your omni-tool and biotics. But if it matters that much, you'll probably find some thermal clips as you make your way to the shuttles. Now, get moving!" The voice left no room for questions as it vanished yet again, making him curse under his breath since he had no idea what either of those things she said were.

He walked towards what seemed to be the only exit of the medbay, and as he approached, he heard a weird hissing noise, which he soon realized was a building explosion that launched several chunks of debris at him. Reacting in the only way he knew how, he raised his arm in an act of pure instinct, which caused said arm to glow blue as the same aura appeared around the rubble, halting them mid-flight. He recognized this ability from his dream, but he was still amazed by the results.

"Okay, I've got superpowers…" He filed that away along with his amnesia as something to question later as he peeked into the corridor, seeing a small red cylinder that perfectly matched the hole in the bottom of his pistol. Putting two and two together rather quickly for someone who couldn't remember their name (Call him crazy, but he doubted it was 'Commander' or 'Lion'), he realized this must've been the ammo the speaker-lady was telling him about. Inserting the cylinder into the slot, the pistol seemed more comforting now that he could shoot it.

"Mech! Take it out Shepard!" The voice called as he vaulted over a crate into a large room. Looking around, he saw a white humanoid shape with what looked to be a red 8 where it's face should be.

_"__Quarian detected… engaging."_ While he had no idea what a 'quarian' was, the man dodged the hail of bullets as the mech raised its submachine gun. Another burst of gunfire came from the machine, and instead of dodging, he refocused on that power he had grasped, using it to create a wall in front of him that sent the firearm's payload bouncing away from him.

"I can't believe that worked…" He murmured aloud before recalling the power he had used in his dream. Focusing the blue haze of energy into a sphere, he launched it at the robot, whose 'head' warped underneath the intense strength of the power before it burst in a fiery explosion. "…That either." He walked up to the now headless mech, now on the floor shut down, and picked up the firearm. Looking at it now, it was actually a pistol, though a different type from the one he had in his left hand. This one seemed a lighter make, and his didn't look like it fired in bursts. Deciding to salvage the weapon, he tapped the side of it against his hip, the weapon folding up and magnetically attaching to his side.

As he went forward he found a massive Grenade Launcher, which had the comical effect of disintegrating the mechs via explosion. Naturally, he stuck this heavy weapon (Which oddly enough, wasn't that heavy) on his back and continued on his way, actually sprinting through a wall of fire without any sense of heat.

He continued onward, and saw a massive mech nearly fifteen feet tall covered in heavy white armor pounding down a nearby hall. He realized that may be a difficult opponent, so he gave any route that seemed to go in that direction, actually following the sound of gunfire and a man shouting profanity.

"Damn, there's no end to these things!" A man with dark skin, hair, and eyes cursed as he ducked behind a guardrail, which left him clean of bullet holes.

Realizing the man was a possible ally since he was fighting mechs as well, he charged in to assist, pulling both guns from their magnetic strips and firing them together. As he had assumed, the pistol with his armor fired single shots at a time, while the one he salvaged from the mech fired three-round bursts. Pulling the triggers at different times to accomplish synchronized fire was something he found almost natural, but then they stopped working. The red cylinder's he had salvaged along the way fell out of the weapons, hissing and steaming as he replaced them. A wide grin spread on his face as he picked up a used thermal clip. Bashing the end of it against the floor, he tossed it across the divide where the mechs were located, and he was left to wonder why he thought that would accomplish something until an explosion caused the remaining mechs to perish.

"Woah, homemade incendiary grenade. That's impressive. Thanks for the save by the way- Shepard? You're awake?" The man who he saved seemed surprised, but said savior was just relieved he finally knew his name.

"Not a problem. Are you injured?" He would interrogate the man later on, when there wasn't a threat of machines killing him. (Ironic thought).

"No, I'm good. I'm Jacob Taylor by the way." The man seemed to relax now that there weren't any mechs in sight, attaching his pistol to his side.

"Good to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances." The comment made a wry laugh erupt from the new man.

"Same here Commander. We had better get you out of here… Shepard? You alright?" Shepard froze, staring at the gold symbol brazenly displayed on the man's light armor/uniform. It was that same symbol that was on the machine in his nightmare…

"I'm alright. Where are the shuttles? Some lady on the speakers was talking to me earlier about finding them…" He shook off yet another question, knowing now was not the time.

"I guess it makes sense that you're a bit out of it, you haven't been up for two years." Shepard's eyes widened at that. What the _hell_ had happened that caused that?!

"Check, check… Is there anyone on this channel?" A voice emanated from a COM link on Jacob's suit, distracting the men from the discussion that had been ongoing.

"Wilson, is that you? I found Shepard. He's up and kicking ass." Jacob responded, giving Shepard a look as he reloaded his pistol.

"Shepard's alive? How the hell…" An explosion interrupted Wilson on his end of the link. "Never mind, I'm under fire! I'm on the way to the shuttle, but I'm sending you my coordinates anyway." A blip sounded as an orange glove-like object appeared on both men's left hands, showing a map of what must be the space station they were on had appeared, showing a white dot on the otherwise orange surface that had startled the recently revived man.

"Come on Commander. I know you have questions, but we need to save Wilson." With that, Jacob twisted a knob on his pistol, stopping at a setting that made the side of the weapon glow red. At Shepard's silence, the man answered the question. "Incendiary ammo. All weapons have ammo mods. Take a look if you want, but we need to save Wilson."

Following his curiosity as well as Jacob, Shepard began fiddling with his weapons, stopping on an option that glowed purple. He had no idea what any of them meant except for the red, but he figured it would be a contrast from Jacob's incendiary rounds.

"Dammit Wilson, the way you sent us is crawling with mechs!" Jacob cursed again, flashing blue for a second before levitating one of the mechs in the air with a power similar to the one Shepard used. Said revived man grinned mischievously before sending out his sphere of energy in an attempt to shred it in midair. The result was different than expected, as an explosion of energy occurred, shattering the 'faces' and most likely several key systems of most of the mechs in the room. "Warp and Pull make an explosion. That may come in handy later." He surmised, giving Shepard a tiny piece of info: That power he used was known as Warp, while Jacob's was Pull.

"The entire _station_ is crawling with mechs!" Wilson countered, making a valid point in Shepard's opinion. It was like an infestation… But with more guns and technology.

"Come on Jacob, we need to find this Wilson before the mechs do." He hadn't noticed it before, but his voice felt strangely synthesized… Yet another question to be asked in the near future.

And so they went on, and soon Wilson was found collapsed on the floor, blood coming out of his leg as if he had been shot.

"Jacob, find something to patch him up, I'll check the wound." Following Shepard's orders, the strange man pulled some medi-gel from a first-aid station on the wall. At this point, Shepard had discovered that Wilson had shot himself; there was no way the mechs would be able to get that angle of a shot. "Jacob, this wound is self-inflicted. I think Wilson is hiding something." Jacob's eyes narrowed and he moved over to question the floored Engineer.

"Wilson, what's going on? The mechs are acting up, Miranda woke Shepard up, and you shot yourself." His tone became accusing towards the end, and Shepard realized that Jacob thought Wilson was the one who hacked the mechs.

"It wasn't me if that's what you're thinking. I think it was Miranda personally." Jacob snorted, obviously holding this Miranda in high regard.

"Miranda poured two years of her life into bringing Shepard back to life. She wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that." Jacob was definitely loyal to Miranda, that much was obvious.

"We can figure out what happened once there's not a threat of synthetic life killing us." (Jacob and Wilson shared a look at this point, making Shepard raise an eyebrow) "Come on, let's move." He left no room for argument, helping Wilson up and pointing towards a door they hadn't gone through.

"Shepard, wait." Jacob paused, as if contemplating something. "Before we go any further, I need to tell you who we work for." A memory tickled at Shepard's mind, whispering something he couldn't decipher.

"Now's not the time Jacob, you can play trust fall with the Commander later. We should get to the shuttle bay." Wilson suggested, his posture showing he was nervous about something.

"No. He deserves to know who brought him back… Shepard, we work for Cerberus." Like so many things thus far in his awakening, the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall why.

"We can talk later. Come on!" Wilson began going on ahead, making the other two follow in hot pursuit, though Shepard knew that Jacob would ask about his reaction, or lack thereof depending on who exactly Cerberus was.

They found a large area with deactivated mechs everywhere. Running on instinct, Shepard ducked behind a guardrail, taking a mech down with him.

"Jacob, use Pull on that group of them! Wilson, hit'em with something that'll take out their shields!" The trio sprung into action like a well-oiled machine, Wilson using his omni-tool to Overload the shields before Jacob caught them in a sphere of biotics. Shepard fired off a Warp to finish off that group before pulling his pistol and firing three slugs, finishing the final opponents.

"It seems your leadership skills haven't deteriorated considering the circumstances." The voice from the PA said, emanating from a woman in a white jumpsuit with a hexagonal pattern and the same golden insignia on her shoulder. She walked up to him with an analytical look in her cold eyes, shooting Wilson in the head on her way towards him.

"What the hell Miranda?" Jacob asked, looking on in shock as the newly introduced Miranda used her biotics to push the corpse away.

"It was Wilson who set up the mechs. How have you adjusted Commander?" She asked as if he was a dissected frog who had caught her attention.

"Adjusted to what exactly?" He asked cautiously, clenching his heavy pistol in one hand, the machine pistol just a few inches from his other hand. It seemed Miranda was a biotic as well, but he had no idea what to make of her.

"You've been dead for two years, and you wake up looking like a quarian. I myself would have plenty of questions, and fortunately, I have answers. Where we are is Lazarus Station, a Cell of Cerberus that was focused entirely on bringing you back to life. We succeeded, and your strength and biotics are better than ever. Unfortunately, your immune system is shot, so you need to wear an environmental-suit in order to survive." She explained all in one breath, making Shepard raise his eyebrow again.

"There's that word again, quarian. A mech called me that… Why did you spend two years bringing me back to life? What's a quarian? What is Cerberus? "Jacob and Miranda shared a surprised look at the flood of questions.

"Shepard… do you remember anything?" Miranda asked, an expression of worry appearing on her face.

He shook his head. "I didn't know my name until Jacob called me by it. My biotics took me by surprise. All I knew was a nightmare I had before waking up. I saw that golden symbol on some kind of beacon while worm monsters attacked and killed almost everyone… but me."

"Akuze." Jacob said, bringing Shepard's attention back to the guard. "Fifty soldiers responded to a distress beacon. The beacon was one of ours. We were studying thresher maws living in that desert. You were the only survivor." Biotics flashed around Shepard for a moment before he reigned in control.

"Well now it makes sense… But what about the purple spaceship that shot a laser at me? That one of yours as well?" He asked with a biting tone, glaring down Jacob, though he seemed unable to notice.

"That's a Reaper. It looks like we have a lot more ground to cover then just getting you up to speed on what's happened in the two years you've been out of commission." Miranda activated her omni-tool, and began typing on the holographic interface, and soon his own device gave him an alert that he had received some things. "That's what we call a Codex, it has all the information you'll need to know. I'm also sending you everything we have on you, summary of all accolades, list of your skills, pre-service history, and psychological profile. Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about your mission as a Spectre, so you'll have to find that from elsewhere." Shepard nodded in thanks before opening up the file on himself and deactivating the tool, knowing that it will still be there when he turns it on.

"Alright, but before we go, what if anyone else survived? Shouldn't we wait to see if anyone else comes here?" He asked, making Miranda smirk as if she had passed some form of test.

"Despite your revival and amnesia, you still care just as much about people you've never met. That's good, that's why we need you. Anyway, if anyone else had survived, they would be here by now." Despite the feeling of being studied like a lab experiment, Shepard nodded.

"If you say so. I've had enough of this station to last a lifetime." Miranda quirked her eyebrow and smiled a shadow of a true smile.

"Or two in your case." This joke would've been funny, but Shepard just glared at her considering the situation.

Miranda had gotten the shuttle working like a charm, and soon the trio was on their way to meet the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus according to both operatives he had met. Shepard had focused all of his attention on his file, and he had gotten as far as Elysium when they shook him out of it. According to one of his mission reports, he had gotten into a fight with a krogan warlord (Thankfully, the Codex had everything Miranda had hyped and more) and won. While this normally would be cause for respect, the fact that it was hand to hand really made its intensity become certain. He had killed a nine-foot tall bipedal dinosaur in a fistfight.

He had hoped if he read over what had happened over his life, he may remember something, anything. Except it didn't work. It seemed his memories would either come back over time or they may be gone forever. He shook these thoughts away as he got out of the shuttle, looking around the station they were on. If anything, the place was efficient. Groups of people worked on holographic monitors, arguing behind the glass about something. A picture on one of the holographic interfaces looked like the spaceship Miranda called a Reaper, but before he could ask, she gestured for him to go down the stairs and speak with the Illusive Man.

The room was dark, and there was a circle on the floor that he stood on warily. When light came from it and began scanning him he clenched his pistol. A room appeared, overlooking a blue star. The man in front could only be seen by his silhouette, but Shepard realized that this was the man he was meeting: the Illusive Man.

"Ah, Shepard, I see Miranda wasn't exaggerating when she said you'd look similar to a quarian. How are you feeling?" The man's voice seemed friendly, but Shepard knew that he was just attempting to make him feel comfortable.

"Illusive Man. I thought we'd be meeting face to face. Should've expected you'd be fond of the whole smoke and mirrors shebang, considering your name." The leader of Cerberus looked directly at Shepard, and the Sole Survivor realized that the man's eyes were cybernetic.

"It seems you're revival has done nothing to your dry wit and sarcasm." He chuckled before taking the cigarette from his mouth. "This galaxy needs you far more than it did before. You merely delayed the Reapers, they are still coming."

"What are you talking about?" The Illusive Man raised his eyebrow, wondering what was going on. "I guess Miranda forgot to mention my amnesia. Ironic."

"I heard that Commander!" Said Sentinel's voice came from upstairs, making Shepard chuckle despite the situation.

"Any way, all I remember is Akuze. I didn't even know my name until Jacob Taylor told me. I know it was your fault, but I can't think about that now. Why did you bring me back? From what Miranda said, you could've built a small fleet at the very least with all the expenses poured into bringing me back." The leader of Cerberus sighed.

"Human colonies have been disappearing. No sign of hostile activity, they just vanish without a trace. We believe it has to do with the Reapers." The name still sent shivers down Shepard's spine, and he felt a tickling in the back of his brain as if he _knew_ more than he actually did.

"You told me I delayed them. Plus, if they're as bad as I think they are, the entire galaxy would be in a panic right now." The Illusive Man nodded in agreement.

"Agents of the Reapers perhaps. Either way, we need your help." The way he said this made Shepard know that it was his decision, but he knew he had no choice. He needed to find his past and discover who he was; working with Cerberus may help.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I'll help, but I don't work for you. You brought me back to stop the Reapers, that's what I'll do." The Illusive Man nodded, accepting the deal.

"The colony known as Freedom's Progress has just gone silent. Take Miranda and Jacob with you and see if you can come up with clues as to what exactly we're dealing with." Shepard saluted, but his hand was interrupted by a clear barrier before it touched his head.

"This environmental suit comes with a helmet and visor, doesn't it?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Unfortunately we cannot do anything about your immune system at this time. In order to compensate, the shields on your armor have increased in strength to withstand two full minutes of assault rifle fire. Speaking of, be sure to arm yourself with some new toys before heading to Freedom Progress." The Illusive Man deactivated the room, and a row of weapons popped out of the grey wall.

Grinning behind the mask he now knew he wore, Shepard placed a Katana shotgun in the small of his back, a M-8 Avenger assault rifle on his right shoulder, and a M-92 Mantis sniper rifle on his left shoulder. Armed to the teeth, he clenched his fist and let the biotics flow as he walked back up to his team. They both looked at him in surprise as he smirked, once again unseen by all.

"Come on you two, let's kick some Reaper ass."

Cronos Station, Location Unknown

The Illusive Man sighed before dropping his cigarette in the ashtray. It was troublesome to say the least that Shepard had amnesia, especially if he disagreed with some of the choices he had made. Fortunately, that may not happen, as Shepard seemed to have the same mental positioning as he did before he died.

"You rang boss man?" A voice asked, its owner walking into the room.

"I did. Your team has taken out our rival?" The Illusive Man asked the man. Looking around the room, he saw six others standing nearby.

"Yeah, we took 'im down. Damn bastard got one of us though." He dropped his head, obviously feeling guilty about the loss.

"Board the Normandy SR-2. Shepard will need all the help he can get, so I'll need you to join his team."

"Sounds like a plan. We get to work with Shepard!" The spokesperson grinned and walked out, the rest of his team following soon after.

"Quite the unorthodox team already and I have no idea who Shepard will find that isn't in the dossiers."

**Alright, if anyone can guess who the new guys are (No, they aren't OC's), they get a virtual cookie. See you all next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, Chapter Two is here!**

Chapter II: The Colony and the Quarian

"Alright Commander, what's the plan?" Miranda asked, looking out into space as the shuttle followed its course to Freedom's Progress.

"First priority is to look for survivors." Miranda looked like she disagreed, and she let it be known.

"Look Commander, we've never found survivors." Shepard glared at her from behind his mask.

"What do you think we'll find then?" He asked, irritated at the woman in front of him.

"A ghost town and one big mystery." The line sounded rehearsed, but before he could call her on it, the shuttle begun its landing procedures.

"Okay, arm up. There may be hostiles." He jumped out of the shuttle, pulling his assault rifle off the magnetic clip on his shoulder before looking around. Like Miranda had said, there weren't any signs that colonists had even been attacked, it looked like they had just gotten up and left.

Jacob actually voiced that exact thought as they walked through an empty building, dinner set on the table with steam actually rising off of it. Continuing forward, they found themselves in a courtyard, where a bunch of the humanoid mechs appeared, as well as a few that looked a lot like dogs. His HUD identified them as LOKI and FENRIS respectively.

"Jacob, get rid of those dog mechs, make sure they don't get close. Miranda, Warp those mechs on the balcony." Shepard aimed down the sights of his Avenger and fired, tearing through the unlucky LOKI that stood in his way as his companions took out the other mechs.

"They should've recognized us as human." Shepard sent a dirty look Jacob's way. "Sorry Commander. Either way, security has never been activated at one of the other colonies. Someone must've beaten us here." Shepard nodded, the Cerberus Officer making a decent point.

"Keep on lookout for more mechs, or anyone who may have set them up. Presume hostile for now, but don't shoot unless they shoot first." Miranda begrudgingly nodded, obviously not agreeing with Shepard, but prepared to follow orders anyway.

Opening another door, the trio found another duo of mechs, one canine and one humanoid that were easily taken out by Miranda's Overload. There was yet another door behind the sparking chassis, and they could hear voices behind it, synthesized like Shepard's.

"Move out, we need answers." Shepard activated the holographic interface for the door, and what was inside made him gasp. There was a group of humanoids that wore environmental-suits, the females wearing veils to cover the tubing connecting their helmet and visor to the rest of their suit. They were looking over a small holographic map before they all looked up and pulled pistols on the Cerberus team.

"Fleet traitor! Why are you working with Cerberus?!" A grey suited soldier jogged up, pointing his assault rifle at the center of Shepard's chest.

"Prazza, you said you'd let me handle this!" A feminine voice that rang in Shepard's mind as hauntingly familiar spoke up as a purple veiled woman ran up, moving in front of the now named Prazza. She turned to the trio in front of her, the eyes shining behind her purple visor cold as she looked at the Cerberus insignia. "Why are you here, _Cerberus_? And why is this exile with you? I thought you hated non-humans." She hissed the name of the organization as if it were the worst curse known to her kind.

"Uh, I'm human." He raised his hand, showing he had five fingers compared to the three these quarians (At least he assumed that's who they were) had on their hands. "My name's Shepard, I'm trying to investigate the disappearance of human colonies." He reached his hand out to the purple woman, whose eyes widened in shock.

"Shepard… You're alive?" Her voice cracked for a moment, and Shepard couldn't tell whether she was angry or sad. He decided on the former as she pulled a fancy black shotgun from the small of her back. "We thought you were dead you Bosh'tet! For two years you've been alive and working with Cerberus? And now you're here and you act like you don't remember me?" She was obviously distraught about the situation.

"Calm down. I don't remember anything. You do seem familiar however…" He closed his eyes in hopes that a memory would surface, but nothing came up.

"When we hunted Saren, I was Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Now I am Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Now," She removed the shotgun from aiming at Shepard, instead pointing it towards Miranda. "What did you do to Shepard, if that is really him? Talk quick Cerberus, a Krogan once taught me how to have an itchy trigger finger." She threatened.

"We brought Commander Shepard back from the dead; he just woke up a few hours ago actually. Unfortunately, we discovered his immune system is nearly nonexistent, and realized just now that his memories are missing. So far he's the same person he once was, just without knowledge of why he is who he is." Miranda summarized quickly. While on the outside she upheld her frosty exterior, on the inside she was nervous about that shotgun, it looked like Spectre tech. Even her shields and barriers couldn't stand up to that kind of firepower.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Quarian Combat Engineer, weapon specialization in shotguns. Assisted Commander Shepard in his hunt for the rogue Spectre Saren, becoming one of six members of Shepard's ground team during her Pilgrimage." Shepard read aloud, having run a search on the quarian in front of him in his Codex.

"That leaves out a few details, but that's essentially it. I'm sorry about the rough greeting Shepard, but non-humans can't exactly trust Cerberus." Tali replaced her shotgun on its magnetic clip.

"I should've expected a greeting like that. Cerberus doesn't seem too popular, even among humans." The engineer nodded in agreement. "So, why exactly are you here? Maybe you can help us." Tali nodded again, seemingly calmer now that she knew (at least partially) exactly what was going on.

"We're looking for Veetor; he came here on his Pilgrimage. We're still getting readings from his omni-tool, so we know he hasn't vanished. We think he's the one that activated the mechs, but that's also a problem. To get to where we think he is, we need two groups. One would be to distract the mechs, the other to flank them." Tali summarized the situation, looking at the trio of humans in front of her as if calculating the odds.

"Then it's a good thing we're here. Your team can flank the mechs and provide support. My team will turn them into heaps of metal." Miranda cleared her throat.

"If I may speak now that you two are done reminiscing, how do we know that they won't stab us in the back while we destroy the mechs?" The question made sense in her mind, but it seemed to anger Shepard, whose biotics began glowing around him.

"Look Miranda, I may not remember her, but I trust Tali. You may be Cerberus, but you'll need to put that aside for the mission. I doubt we'll be working with only humans, so you need to set your bias aside." He turned from his tirade against Miranda to face Tali again. "You and your team go on ahead; we'll give them something to shoot at." The purple veiled quarian nodded before motioning for her team to prepare.

"I'll link us via COM, make sure to keep in touch. And Shepard? It's good to have you back." With that, the quarians left, Tali pulling her black shotgun from the small of her back again.

"Come on you two, we have mechs to blow up." Pulling his assault rifle back into its active mode, he took point, watching out for anything that could shoot at him.

A deactivated mech sat in a corner of a housing unit, but as he approached to investigate, it came online, but slamming the butt of an assault rifle into its 'face' turned out to be an effective tactic.

"That LOKI mech was guarding that safe. If it has credits, we could use them." Miranda spoke aloud, making Shepard send her a shocked look, not that it was noticeable.

"Seriously Miranda? These people vanished and you're thinking of robbing them?" He asked, wondering what exactly was wrong with her morals.

"Cerberus utilized a couple billion credits bringing you back, we don't have many to spare. Plus, looters or pirates would arrive and take them anyway. Besides, if we take them they would be used for a good cause; stopping whatever is causing these abductions." Try as he might, Shepard couldn't come up with a counterargument for that. And for some reason, he couldn't help but feel he had done something similar before…

"I guess that makes sense. Hack it open then." The safe did indeed have a couple thousand credits inside, and while he felt guilty taking from these people; he knew he would make sure to use them to stop the abductions. They walked outside, and a few drones flew overhead.

"Drones above us! I can Overload their shields!" Miranda exclaimed, retreating behind cover so that the guns attached to the drones wouldn't drain her shields.

"What are you waiting for then?" Shepard asked, activating his omni-tool and speed reading the abilities he could use: Sabotage, Incinerate, Cryo Freeze, Overload, and Combat Drone. Hitting the final option, a sphere of blue data appeared which distracted the enemies by firing off electricity. This gave Shepard an opportune time to test his sniper rifle, which worked like a charm. "Hah! Scoped and dropped!" Shepard felt a flash of nostalgia at this point, and apparently Tali had heard.

"Keelah Shepard, for someone with amnesia, you just did a perfect imitation of Garrus." She chuckled slightly before silence reigned for a moment and she cursed. "Bosh'tet! Prazza took my squad ahead; he's trying to get to Veetor first!" Tali shut the COM off, running after her team, Shepard guessed.

"We should've expected this." Miranda's cold comment took both men by surprise.

"Come on, we can still catch them if we move fast." Jacob took point with his shotgun and Shepard switched back to his assault rifle, making a triangle formation with Miranda and her machine pistol.

More drones appeared, but they weren't much of a problem once Shepard began figuring out his omni-tool and biotics, using them in conjunction just as well as Miranda.

"Veetor programmed a heavy mech! It's tearing Prazza's squad apart!" Once Tali said this, the Commander knew exactly what he'd see behind the loading bay doors, which fortunately opened.

Tali was firing her shotgun at the massive mech, the same kind as Shepard had seen on Lazarus Station (YMIR according to his HUD), distracting it so her team could get to safety. This tactic worked for a while before the mech took a step, the vibrations knocking the purple-veiled engineer onto the ground. Time seemed to freeze as Shepard realized there was a chance that she'd die. His biotics flared sharply, enough to make even Miranda surprised (Funny considering she upgraded him when he was brought back to life), and he dashed forward, leaving a blue trail behind him.

As he Charged the mech, he focused even more biotics into his right hand, sending a punch that launched the massive robot flying backwards. Glaring at the mech from behind his crimson visor, he surprised everyone even more by placing his assault rifle back on its magnetic strip. He walked towards the collapsed mech, his HUD telling him that the mech's shields and armor had been disintegrated. He could feel a headache forming from biotic overuse, but he ignored it for now, using one last biotic-enhanced punch to destroy the white giant's 'face'.

"Crap…" He summarized as a countdown timer began. He sprinted away from the YMIR, plucking Tali up from the ground on his way to cover. Just in time to, the mech exploded with the ordinance of a small tactical nuke, and Shepard doubted that even if he focused all his biotics into a barrier, he would be able to protect himself nearly enough to live. "You alright Tali?" He asked, setting her back on the ground. The engineer didn't say anything at first, but behind her visor her glowing silver eyes were wide.

"I think she's in shock Commander." Jacob mused aloud, but this proved false when the female quarian spoke shakily.

"It is you… even if you don't remember anything, you're still who you were…" She tackled him in a hug, which was a surprise to all. He returned the gesture, and he was overwhelmed by the sense of familiarity he got from her, even if he didn't remember.

"I'm back…" Groans from the quarian survivors brought them back to reality. "Check the wounded Tali, I'll get Veetor." She nodded, jogging over to her team. As Shepard moved to investigate the back of the loading bay, he had to resist chuckling as Tali muttered 'Prazza you damn Bosh'tet.'

"Monsters took everyone. They'll come back, take me too." Another quarian, who Shepard assumed was Veetor, babbled as he tapped away at a holographic interface, lines of data running down the monitors in front of him.

"Veetor?" He asked, but the man didn't seem to notice them.

"He seems to be in shock, I'm positive this time." This time Jacob seemed right, but there was a reason that he was an Officer and not a doctor.

Shepard activated his omni-tool, which he used to jam the monitors and make sure Veetor would notice the trio standing behind him.

"Fleet brother… and humans? The monsters took them all, even the ones that hid, but not me." He got up, and the team from Cerberus recognized a nervous tic; he was moving his fingers as if he was still typing. Whatever these monsters were, they scared the sanity off of this poor man.

"We just got here recently Veetor." He didn't think the quarian needed the stress of knowing that he was human, so he just played along for now. "What happened to the colonists?"

"The monsters took them, they didn't know. But I do, I saw everything." He typed a bit on the interface, which activated what must've been a security recording. Insect-like bipedal creatures were walking around in what seemed like a swarm of bright green mosquitoes, placing paralyzed humans in cocoon like canisters. One looked up towards the camera, and the quartet could see four glowing yellow eyes on the exoskeleton-like face.

"That looks like a Collector." Miranda's comment made shivers run down Shepard's spine, even though he had no idea what a 'Collector' was.

"What is a Collector?" He asked, his amnesia making another appearance. Jacob at least looked guilty of forgetting, but Miranda just huffed a bit, seemingly frustrated by his lack of knowledge, not that he could help it.

"The Collectors are a mysterious race that lives beyond the Omega-4 Relay. They normally work through intermediaries, mercenaries and slavers and the like. If they're behind the colonial abductions, then I think that's evidence enough that the Reapers are involved." Miranda explained, and for the first time since Shepard had awoken, he agreed with her.

"Commander, Miranda, what do we do with Veetor?" Jacob asked, hoping to prompt a response from the two he felt were in charge of the mission. The two spoke in sync, which caused another silent glaring match.

"Take him and his omni-tool to Cerberus." Guess who?

"Take his omni-tool data and return him to the Fleet with Tali." These conflicting opinions caused Jacob to prepare to intervene, if not for a certain engineer popping in.

"Shepard, it looks like you found Veetor safe and sound. I should take him back to the Migrant Fleet." She noticed the obvious glaring contest, and subtly reached for her shotgun.

"Veetor is coming with us Shepard. We need that data." Miranda tried to explain her reasoning, but Shepard waved it off.

"Then we can take his omni-tool at most. He needs to recover from this experience, and going back home is the best option for him." He turned to Tali. "Tali, is there any chance you'd join me again? I could use a familiar face." The irony of the statement was not lost on either of the two, both chuckling for a minute or two.

"I'm afraid not Shepard, I still have a mission to complete. If I come back alive, I may be able to join you." Shepard raised his eyebrow, concerned for the friend he had recently reunited with.

"Sounds dangerous, any way I can help?' As Tali shook her head, he could hear Miranda huff again at his helpfulness.

"You need to stop the Collectors, I don't think that mission will take you into Geth space." Shepard nodded, accepting her reasoning despite the fact he didn't know what a Geth was.

"Jacob, Miranda, go on ahead and prep the shuttle for launch." The Cerberus Operatives followed the order, heading back the way they had come. "Wait a second Tali." The engineer stood by obediently as Shepard investigated a second YMIR mech, this one not having died via nuclear explosion. Activating a setting labeled 'Scan' on his omni-tool, he received an upgrade to the power cell that his heavy weapon ran off of, allowing it to fire more shots before it became useless. Well, once he finds a scientist to build it and the iridium needed of course.

"Already scanning for upgrades Shepard? I thought the interest on all those credits and weapons we salvaged while we hunted Saren would be enough." Tali teased, figuring out exactly what Shepard was doing.

"To stop the Collectors I'll need the best. Good luck on your mission Tali." They waved goodbye as Shepard caught up with the Operatives, who had liberated more credits from other safes on their way back now that Shepard had given them the go-ahead.

"Keelah se'lai, Commander Shepard." She had said, and even though he didn't know the meaning, he knew the phrase was important to Tali, either as an individual or as a quarian.

"You ready to leave Commander?" Jacob asked, leaning against the shuttle as if he had been waiting a while.

"Yeah, let's go."

The ride back to the unnamed Cerberus station was peaceful, which gave Shepard more time to read up on himself, his team, and the world around him. Oddly enough, while Miranda had said that Cerberus didn't have much on his time as a Spectre, the reports were very specific, from Eden Prime to the hunt for evidence against Saren on the Citadel. When asked, Miranda replied 'we have sources', the most noncommittal answer he had heard since he woke up.

The communication room with the Illusive Man activated again, and the blue star behind the man seemed even brighter, if that was possible, causing the cybernetics in his eyes to glow more so than before.

"The quarians sent the data, and personally I'm surprised. While I was expecting the Collectors, I was not expecting the Migrant Fleet to help." Shepard crossed his arms, and though it couldn't be seen by anyone, he had a grin on his face.

"Next time, try playing nice. I scratch your back, you scratch mine, that kinda thing works wonders." The leader of Cerberus shrugged noncommittally.

"Maybe, but you're more suited to being humanity's Paragon then I am. Now, since we now that the Collectors are taking the colonies, we need you to stop them." Now they had gotten to the good stuff, Shepard thought.

"First I have a few questions. My old crew, where are they? Tali mentioned Garrus, whose file I read. We could use him." Indeed, the file on Garrus Vakarian was impressive. Ex Citadel Security officer, expert with sniper and assault rifles, utilizes tech attacks. He sounded like someone that would be useful against the Collectors.

"Vakarian vanished a while after you died, even we don't know where he is." This seemed like a half truth, but the recently revived man let it go.

"Alright, so you want me to take out an entire race of Reaper forces? I'll either need a damn good team or an army." The Illusive Man nodded in agreement.

"You won't be disappointed with the number of experts on your side Shepard. Miranda, Jacob, an entire team of trigger happy mercenaries, and a bunch of others." Just great, Shepard thought. The crew sounded like a time bomb to him, but he knew he needed all the help he could get, and if he could get a small army to work together, the Collectors would be screwed.

"I'm gonna guess that I need to pick up most of them?" He had the strangest feeling it would be too convenient if the entire group was already gathered.

"You're correct in that, but you have the team of mercenaries I mentioned, as well as Miranda and Jacob. I'd suggest heading to Omega first, it has three members of your team, including Professor Mordin Solus, who will help create a countermeasure against the Seekers the Collectors use." 'Seekers' must've been what Veetor labeled the green mosquitoes they had seen on the security footage. Shepard couldn't believe he thought this, but the Illusive Man was right, the sooner the countermeasure was created, the sooner they could bring the fight to the Collectors.

When he said as much the Illusive Man chuckled a bit, and Shepard could hear someone approaching from behind him.

"Now, as for your ship, we got you a pilot you could trust. Make us proud Shepard." The footsteps got closer, and a voice full of dry wit and familiarity appeared.

"Jeez Commander, you get spaced and have to become a quarian? That's unlucky, even by our standards." They quipped as they walked into the light, revealing a limping man with a scraggly beard wearing a Cerberus uniform.

"Did you get the memo about…?" Shepard asked, tapping the side of his helmet. The man nodded.

"About your amnesia? Yeah, I was told. Feels weird reintroducing myself to you, but the name's Jeff, but you can just call me Joker." He limped in another direction, gesturing for the amnesiac to follow. "We were screwed without you Commander. Everyone left, well, everyone that survived the burning of the Normandy. They moved on, seemed to forget everything that happened." Joker's voice turned serious for a moment, but then he lightened back up.

"So, now that you're back, are you planning on building another mini-army? Because it looked like we'll need everyone." Shepard nodded.

"We will. I just hope our ship has enough room for everyone. The Illusive Man said he already brought aboard a team of mercenaries." Joker nodded in realization at who he was talking about.

"A sniper with a mechanical bird, a guy the size of a krogan, a biotic that can cloak herself into being invisible, a robo-ninja that speaks in haikus, a pissed off midget that duel-wields assault rifles, a one-man army that drops sentry turrets, and another biotic that drops Singularities like a soldier on shore leave drinks. I did some research on them, turns out they took down a corporation, and pretty much killed everything on a planet. They're tough sons of bitches, that's for sure." With the descriptions of the mercenaries out of the way, Joker limped up to a window, which held nothing but darkness. "Take a look at this, they only told me last night." The lights on the other side popped on one at a time dramatically, leaving Shepard wide-eyed.

A curved and graceful starship was docked, stripes of black and yellow running along the streamlined visage. SR2 lay on the sides, leaving enough room for the name: Normandy. For the fourth time since his resurrection, Shepard felt a sense of familiarity in looking at the ship.

"Wow…" Was the oh-so-eloquent response the masked human could barely muster, the nostalgia almost overwhelming him.

"Welcome home Commander." Joker set his arm on Shepard's shoulder for a moment before moving on, going down a flight of stairs or six so that they could access the airlock of their new ship.

Once inside (Shepard made note of the decontamination feature of the airlock, which may come in handy later), they gaped at all of the holographic controls, all unsurprisingly orange. A full crew was working along the 'neck' of the ship in between the cockpit and the circular area at the other end with a map of the galaxy. While Joker made his way to the pilot's seat, exclaiming something about leather seats, Shepard worked his way back to the Galaxy Map, where Jacob and Miranda were waiting.

"Commander, I'd suggest going after Mordin Solus first." The Sentinel Operative mirrored the Illusive Man's comment almost word for word.

"_I agree with Operative Lawson, Commander Shepard. Mordin Solus seems like an optimal place to begin recruitment." _A synthesized voice spoke up as a blue orb appeared on the console, which startled Shepard into almost falling over.

"Er, hello… Who're you?" He felt like he was talking to the ship, as odd as that seemed.

_"__Of course. I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, though I am called 'EDI' by the crew."_ The now introduced EDI said, her voice inflecting in all the proper places to sound like an organic. Granted, one who needed to speak through a synthesizer or two, but the qualities were there.

"So are you the ship? Just an AI implanted into it?" The shock value from Shepard's acceptance of EDI was almost comical, at least until they remembered that he didn't remember that in Citadel Space AI = Bad.

_"__I am indeed an AI, though I only have minimal control over the ship. My main objective is to keep everyone on board alive, which means I monitor cybernetic warfare so that enemy ships cannot implant viruses or other malware into our systems."_ The AI seemed slightly proud to explain her job, especially when Shepard nodded in agreement.

"That makes sense, an AI would react faster than even the best when it comes to cyber-warfare. Good to have you EDI, I look forward to working with you." Miranda had to return her jaw to its original position once Shepard was done conversing with EDI, but before she could say anything else, someone came from the elevator.

"Geez, TIM told us we'd be working with Shep, but he forgot to mention the amnesia or enviro-suit until just a bit ago." A man wearing red rags and aviator goggles and holding a mech similar to the FENRIS, only avian instead of canine on his shoulder. The mech was identified as BLOODWING 2.0, and it bobbed its head as if it noticed Shepard looking at it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr…?" The man reached out for a handshake, which the Commander accepted.

"Name's Mordecai. I'm in charge of a little team of mercenaries under your command known as the Vault Hunters."

Shuttle to the Migrant Fleet

Tali paced the length of the shuttle, deep in thought about the new predicament she faced. While her mission to Geth space was important to the Fleet, Shepard's mission affected the galaxy as a whole.

Plus, she wanted to keep an eye or two on him, make sure he stays who he once was. Amnesia sometimes changes people, and this quarian engineer would be damned if she let Shepard become something he wasn't in order to save the galaxy. After all, he did it once before, still maintaining his morals.

Sighing, she activated her omni-tool and began typing a message, hoping that maybe she could fill in the blanks about several of Shepard's Spectre assignments.

**Welp, there it is guys and gals. Next chapter starts what I like to call 'The Recruitment Arc', which includes DLC characters and a familiar face or two for those who help out a bunch of people. Oh yeah, if it wasn't obvious enough, Sheploo here is a Sole Survivor and Lion of Elysium combo that came from the colony of Mindoir. He doesn't really have a combat class, so here's a list of his skills:**

**Weapons:**

**Assault Rifle**

**Sniper Rifle**

**Shotgun**

**Heavy Pistol**

**Submachine Gun**

**Biotics:**

**Charge**

**Throw**

**Warp**

**Shockwave**

**Tech:**

**Sabotage (Automatically heats the opponent's thermal clip to 'full' and causes the heat to burst onto said enemy. Why wasn't this in the games after 1?)**

**Overload**

**Incinerate**

**Cryo Freeze**

**Combat Drone**

**Hope you all enjoy and keep an eye out for the next chapter, Keelah se'lai!**


End file.
